Abstract—Today, municipalities are planning to deploy metroscale
two-tier wireless mesh networks at a rapid pace. Fittingly,
the IEEE 802.11s standard is being developed to allow interoperability
between heterogeneous mesh network devices. In this
article, we describe and discuss how the initial standard addresses
key factors for standardization of these networks: (i) efficient
allocation of mesh resources at the routing and MAC layers,
(ii) protection and conservation of the network resources via
security and energy efficiency, and (iii) assurance of fairness and
elimination of spatial bias via mesh congestion control. We draw
upon examples from existing two-tier deployments, simulations,
and analytical models to motivate these enhancements within the
standard.